Your Last Excuse Not to Quit Smoking Has Been Stubbed Out

"We get them while they're young" should probably be printed on the front of every pack of cigarettes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nine out of 10 smokers try their first cigarette by 18, and 99% have tried it by age 26.

While cigarette use is on the decline in the United States, that still leaves decades of lifespan in which you can slowly murder yourself. Plenty of lifelong smokers, including my (very, very deceased) grandmother, have wondered, "I've smoked for [x] years, isn't it too late to quit now?"

Researchers used data from more than 160,000 participants at various stages of their lives who completed questionnaires on their smoking habits in 2004 and 2005. They test subjects were tracked until the end of 2011.

Much of the findings weren't surprising. Even the Nazis noted in the '30s and '40s that it's obviously best to avoid smoking entirely, and to quit as early as possible. As the study and WBUR point out: "Of those who quit in their 30s, 16 percent died. In their 40s: 20 percent. In their 50s: 24 percent. And in their 60s: 28 percent."

But even though that mortality rate seems to increase inexorably, those who quit smoking in their retirement years were 23% less likely to die.